Kyle Lowry, after averaging 36.7 minutes per game in his first 68 games this season, played just 27 minutes in a win over the Hawks on Sunday. He’d played less only in a pair of blowout wins over the Jazz.

Cause for concern for the Raptors? Barely. It’s much more indicative of Toronto’s positive season.

Raptors fans can expect the star point guard, the team’s most important player, to continue to come out at unexpected times. He has a series of ailments, including a groin issue, that require a lighter workload for the moment.

“We want to win,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “That’s the number one thing. But you’ve got to have healthy players. It’s a catch-22. You play DeMar [DeRozan] and Kyle for 38, 40, 42 minutes, and sooner or later it’s going to tell on them. It’s not a major revelation that we need to watch [their minutes], but at the same time, win. Winning trumps a lot.”

Resting players is always easier said than done for competitive coaches like Casey. He mostly followed his Sunday substitution pattern with Lowry in the first half against the Cavaliers yesterday, erring a bit toward playing the point guard more. But with the Raptors down 14 at halftime and trying come back – they fell just short in a 102-100 loss – Lowry played 18 second-half minutes.

DeRozan, who ranks third in the NBA with 38.4 minutes per game, hasn’t yet seen his playing time decrease.

The 39-31 Raptors are fourth in the Eastern Conference, 1.5 games ahead of the fifth-place Nets. In terms of team quality, very little separates the East’s 3-6 teams – the Bulls, Raptors, Nets and Wizards. But the top two teams in that group will get homecourt advantage in the first round, a significant factor.

Until Toronto has a little more margin over fifth place or Lowry’s injuries become more significant, his playing time will likely drop only so much.